It was more than a decade ago when owner Chris Hays made a life-changing decision to start a top quality screen printing company with the name Dove Designs. Chris, with help from his father John Hays, teamed up and started a screen printing business that would turn out to become the leader in fire and rescue apparel.
Chris came from an executive background of warehouse management with over a decade of experience managing a crew of 120 employees for a multi-million dollar warehouse. His father John had spent his entire career in the apparel industry, and was the sales manager and marketing director for two different multi-million dollar screen printing facilities. The father and son team would turn out to be a force to be reckoned with for many of the top screen printing companies in the United States.
Chris says, “When the company first started we were a mile wide and an inch deep. We were just trying to get started and our jobs consisted of custom printing anywhere we could get an order. We are now a company that is an inch wide and a mile deep. We needed a niche to focus on and become the best at that one area. That we have that niche with the Fire Rescue Departments all across the United States.”
In the spring of 1998 Dove Designs was invited to attend a small fire school in the hills of eastern Kentucky. They loaded up some preprinted stock in a small minivan and set up a booth at the small fire school. There they met the Executive Director of the Kentucky State Fire Commission, Ronnie Day. Ronnie was very impressed with the quality of Dove Designs goods as well as their southern hospitality and customer relations. Little did Dove Designs know that this would be the start of a personal friendship as well as that one niche they needed to push their business to the next level.
After attending many fire schools and colleges all across the country Dove Designs began to understand exactly what the fire service needed from their company and they began to develop their plan to provide the fire service with duty shirts across the United States. “We have a completely new respect for our nation’s Fire Service. These men and women go through extensive, painstaking training that prepares them to put their lives in danger on a daily basis to ensure that lives are saved. Folks that never see that do not have any idea what it takes to become a firefighter,” says Chris.
After many years working with the fire service, Dove Designs has developed a close relationship with many firefighters across the United States, from the hills of Eastern Kentucky to the Colorado Rockies and beyond to California’s Gold Coast. “These relationships would not have been possible without great products, competitive pricing, and the best customer service and product guarantees in the business,” says Chris. “We get letters and phone calls every day from our customers thanking our company for the quality of service we bring to them.”
Dove Designs puts quality first, not quantity. All of their products are directly screen printed to the garments in-house. “We have top quality employees that take pride in their work. We design all the artwork and printing in house, and offer our products directly to the consumer, saving our customers hundreds of dollars,” says Chris. “We do not use heat transfers- we believe in quality, not quantity.”
Dove Designs has developed a line of duty shirts for Fire Departments that exceed their customers’ standards. Customers can choose from stock designs and have them personalized free with their department name, or even send photos of their apparatus on cd-rom and Dove Designs’ experienced art department can design a full color custom printed design that will have all the neighboring departments raving.
Whatever your needs are for your department, be it the best looking duty shirts in your county, a fundraising project for your next chili supper, or gifts for your firefighter loved one, Dove Designs can help you fulfill those needs. Just give their friendly customer service department a call on the toll-free number, 1-888-377-4459, or visit them online at www.dovedesigns.com.
